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USAF orders 15 C-17s from Boeing for $2.9 bn

The US Air Force has placed an order for 15 C-17 transport planes from US manufacturer Boeing valued at 2.9 billion dollars, reviving the fortunes of the Boeing plant at Long Beach which would otherwise have closed down this year.

AFP - The US Air Force has ordered 15 C-17 military transport planes from US manufacturer Boeing valued at 2.9 billion dollars, the Pentagon announced Friday.

"The Air Force is awarding a firm fixed price contract to (Boeing subsidiary) McDonnell Douglas Corporation of Long Beach, California for an amount not to exceed 2.95 billion dollars ... for the procurement of 15 C-17 aircraft," the Department of Defense said in a statement.

The statement had no information on the date of the delivery of the aircraft.

The contract revives the fortunes of the aircraft, known as the Globemaster III, a plane at the heart of the US Air Force's fleet of long-range transport planes. The C-17 can fly long distances and land on short landing strips.

Boeing had been on the verge of scrapping C-17 production in 2006 when orders for the plane dried up.

The move revives work at the Boeing plant in Long Beach which would otherwise have closed down by mid-year, directly affecting some 5,500 Boeing workers.

The US Air Force has ordered up to now 190 C-17s. Boeing has also sold six of the airplanes to Britain, four to Canada and four to Australia.